


Part of your world

by Jikael



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: How Do I Tag, Little Mermaid Elements, M/M, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 20:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19753117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jikael/pseuds/Jikael
Summary: There's a war between the Land at the Sea that might just tear both their worlds apart. In the heat of battle, Keith realizes there's still a way to preserve the peace between their worlds.How can a world that makes such wonderful things be so bad?Aka the Little Mermaid AU I wrote at 1 am bc I saw it on Twitter and couldn't get it out of my head





	Part of your world

**Author's Note:**

> It was inspired by an edit I found on twitter but I'm on mobile so I'll have to put the link later💕 It's like Little Mermaid, but with kind of a twist. Hope you enjoy it. Hope to finish the other two chapters tomorrow.

"How many times do we have to go through this to make you understand, Keith?" His mother has a strong, merciless hold on her trident as she speaks, with fire in her eyes; "you need to stay under 600 flukes from the surface and that's the end of it." She sighs, and the water surrounding her feels cold when she says: "There's a war coming soon, and I cannot bear losing _you_ too."

Keith knows. There's an uncertainty in the border where the human machines touch their world; the water is tranquil. The sea species have not returned, fearful of them. And even though it's hard to breathe through all the rubbish humans have thrown into that part of the sea, Keith can't help but to return whenever he can. 

He has always found humans weirdly interesting. Ever since he was a kid. Their clothes seem itchy and uncomfortable, they only breathe through their nose, they stand on two weird pseudo-arms and they had no limitations. They thought they owned wherever they could put their hand on. And that was a bad thing, he had been taught. But they created huge beasts that sailed through the ocean without the help of a fin. They created even bigger beasts that sail through the air without the help of wings. They roared like beasts, they were big, imponent, but they weren't alive. They were mere objects. 

That's his favorite thing about humans. That thing they have for swimming in the air, like birds.  _ Flying _ , they call it.Swimming is great, like— _no_ _thing_ could replace being chased by a shark, racing around the deep sea geysers, hanging out in those beautiful glowing caves… there's nothing better than that. But flying _? That _ must be something else. 

Keith will never be able to do that. He indulges in his fantasy by doing leaps beside the dolphins, by sitting on a rock whenever the breeze is howling and just...  _ imagine  _ that freedom. 

The sky called for him. He might love the sea, it's colors, it's people; but the sky is the most beautiful thing on Earth. It's so beautiful even the sea cannot help but imitate it. 

Whenever the sky's blue, the ocean is blue too. Whenever the sky decides to paint itself with those beautiful pink-orange-violet hues the sea can't help but to reflect it on its surface. 

And when it paints itself with little freckles of light, the sea looks like seafoam has separated every tiny little particle it has and drowned it in sunlight, so it could even aspire to be  _ that _ ethereal. 

So yeah, he spends a lot of his time hanging out in the surface. In his defense, it was his father's fault. When Keith turned thirteen, he said he and Axca were old enough to see the surface. He has returned to it every single day of his life since then. 

But now his mother prohibited it. No merperson is allowed to go higher than 600 flukes from the surface. An omen of war is disturbing the peace reigning all seven kingdoms. A hundred years ago, Daibazaal and Altea had a peace agreement where they put their differences aside to ensure the seven kingdoms' prosperity. Daibazaal wanted to declare war between the Land and Sea, because of the perjuries committed by human race in Daibazaal's territory. Altea didn't accept, for they feared it would unleash a World War impossible to blow out. Instead, they chose to give up part of their territory to make up for the displacement of the Galran race caused by human contamination of the water. 

But now, there was no peace agreement that could quench the merpeople's desire for blood. A barbaric human had seen Aquata- a noble mermaid from the Altean kingdom- in the surface, allured by her voice and beauty, and kidnapped her to quell his desire; but had been so desperate to fulfill it and so ignorant of a mermaid's body that he carved a hole in her, and disposed it when he was done, like the rubbish they kept throwing in the ocean. 

Those news spread through all seven Kingdoms like a wave, and shook every person to the bone. Now everybody wanted the war, including the alteans. The troops were preparing. They were going to take down every filthy beast humans contaminated their home with, and then wipe out human race of existence, to prevent history from repeating itself. 

It was hard to believe, but it was a solution. Merpeople couldn't choose to stay silent anymore. And humans may be interesting, but his people- his people are everything to Keith. And what that human had done is the most barbaric thing Keith had ever heard. As the second heir to the Daibazaal's throne he is, he has to start putting his people first. 

That's why Keith goes to the surface, one more time. Just to say goodbye. Then he'll be the soldier his people needs him to be. He needs to see the sky one more time.

It's noon by the time he arrives. He swims through the only unguarded tunnel because of the impossibility to breath the water surrounding it. However, since the tunnel starts in deep sea, the water inside of it is clean. 

Keith has never lamented the unsuitability of his painting materials for the surface more, because he's never seen anything more beautiful in his fifteen years of life. It's like the sky knows how dark the worlds are in the moment, and it's trying to make up for it. 

He sits on one of the cave's rocks, and he enjoys the soft rumbling of the breeze. The air entering his nose feels almost salty from how long he's been under the sea, but it's freeing nevertheless. He inhales deeply, and whistles. His melody echoes through the cave. Singing is one thing, and it is truly a miracle in their biology that mermeople could sing or talk under all that pressure from the water. But singing while feeling something as light as air coursing through you?  _ That _ was something else. 

> _ You can hear _
> 
> _ My melody _
> 
> _ And you don't have _
> 
> _ To hear my voice. _
> 
> _ For the melody is from within _
> 
> _ And has been sent _
> 
> _ From the above _

His voice echoes melodically through the cave's edges. He won't be able to do this in a long, long time. He'll train to fight alongside his mother's troops, helping wherever he can to plan the army's strategies. 

He starts undoing his braid, starting from the bottom of it that touches his belly button to the small ones adorning the sides of his face. It's a sign of royalty. But he couldn't feel less royal right now. In all honesty, he still feels like a kid in a grown-ups world. And under the setting sun, he feels like a sea-foam particle in a vast ocean. 

He thinks he can't feel even more out of this world, when he sees  _ him _ . It's a boy. He sees him surge from the water like one of the stars had come to life. He has silver hair, and he isn't aware of Keith's presence yet. Keith thinks he might be an altean, because of his hair -royal alteans have been known to have silver hair- but he isn't able to see his markings from that distance. 

He thinks of greeting him-it would be considered an offense that he didn't greet him, if the boy is indeed a noble-, 'til he sees him get out of the water. 

The boy's a human boy. He hides behind the rock as good as he can and makes the decision to flee as subtle as possible, 'til he slips and makes a loud wet noise when falling to the flat rocks beside it The boy notices it. 

"Is somebody there?" the boy says, and starts approaching him. Keith is frozen on the spot. "I mean no harm." 

His voice is sweet like a lullaby, and he hasn't heard human talk like that. Ever. It's always loud and sharp annoying voices that Keith can't stand to hear for more than a few minutes. 

He starts moving towards him, and in matter of seconds, he's looking at him in the eye, under the blue glow from the cave's water. His eyes are grey too, but most of them aren't silver like his hair, but gray as in a thunderstorm cloud. He catches, though, a few slices of silver trying to make their way into his irises. His eyes are kinda like Keith's, but his pupils are round. 

The boy gasps.

"You-you're a _mermaid_ ," he says. His face looks like a paper sheet. "were you singing before?" 

"I'm a _merman_ ," he says, because he can't concentrate on nothing else. 

"Oh," he says, blushing. "that was the most beautiful voice I've ever heard." He looks down to his lap, and chooses to sit beside Keith like he has known him his whole life. 

Keith throws himself into the water, and swims as fast and deep as he can. 

He doesn't see the boy again, for a year and a half. 

  


**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. How do you feel about this? Should I keep writing it? Tysm for reading💕


End file.
